Flight School: Day 11
"Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" was the song on the comm when I entered the downwind for my second landing on runway 15 this morning around 7:30. My first landing was beautiful, no crosswind and a smidge of impact. If I could pull them off like that each time I'd make a lot of money as a delicate explosives carrying pilot. Second touchdown, slight crosswind but good correction. Boom, park on the taxiway and ask Ground Control for taxi back to the runway. Up again, around again, but the crosswind had picked up a bit. Still no problems getting the plane on the ground. A slight *screech* as we hit the brakes to exit on taxiway Alpha 2. Paul signed my logbook, shook my almost sweaty hand and shut the door. I was approved for solo flight.
That's right mother flippers, I said SOLO FLIGHT and it was greattt. Three ups and three downs to keep it simple for first timers, but it still felt like a large burden was lifted from my flight training. As soon as I got on the taxiway GC made me turn around because they switched the active runway because the winds had changed. The flight was otherwise uneventful, but the winds were picking up so my landings got worse as they went on. The third landing I had a soft bounced and skid, but nothing uncontrollable, uncomfortable, or destructive. Tower got me the wind speeds and directions each pass so I was able to accurately correct for the wind, and I coasted back to the tarmac and parked it like it was hot.
After they cut the back of my shirt (long aviation story), I had to fly a progress check with the owner of the school, the William Defoe/Mike Lumberg love child. I didn't do so hot with that, however. I severely screwed up my stall recovery by using ailerons when I wasn't supposed to, I didn't know some of the checkpoints he was talking about, and I didn't use ailerons when I should have on landing. He also did a broken headphone simulation where I had to use the crummy handheld mic and the intercom to hear.
The third flight of the day we simulated and practiced short and softfield landings and takeoffs. We practiced both at Kissimmee and took a mini cross-country trip towards Lake Whales, then a little further east, then back. The trip was a blast not only because it combined so many flight elements, it also took me over the familiar sights of Bok Tower, which I haven't seen up close for at least 5 years, and especially not that angle. We landed on a grass airstrip by a lake in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere north of Lake Whales. It was actually a 5 star restaurant/hotel/getaway resort. I got a ribbon for flying in on their airstrip and we took a tour of the restaurant. Guys - if you want to treat your lady to a high class night, take her to Chalet Suzanne. After that we went over restricted military airspace (over, not through) and had to pull an awesome 3000 foot descent slip. We touched down on the short strip, turned around and cruised back to Kissimmee using some autopilot features. The landing was superb, no crosswinds and I just floated that plane like paper over the runway screaming "no, you can't have it!" (another story).
A very successful day for me. I'm happy, and I'm going to celebrate. When I get done we need a have a party.
(Post Script: Aviation Story - back in the early days of aviation, the student pilot sat up front and the instructor sat in the back. Since they didn't have eletronic avionics (radios), the only way for the instructor to communicate with the pilot to tell him to turn left or right was to tug on the back of his shirt. Once the student flew solo or graduated, the instructor cut off the entire back of the student's shirt since it was no longer necessary. )
That's right mother flippers, I said SOLO FLIGHT and it was greattt. Three ups and three downs to keep it simple for first timers, but it still felt like a large burden was lifted from my flight training. As soon as I got on the taxiway GC made me turn around because they switched the active runway because the winds had changed. The flight was otherwise uneventful, but the winds were picking up so my landings got worse as they went on. The third landing I had a soft bounced and skid, but nothing uncontrollable, uncomfortable, or destructive. Tower got me the wind speeds and directions each pass so I was able to accurately correct for the wind, and I coasted back to the tarmac and parked it like it was hot.
After they cut the back of my shirt (long aviation story), I had to fly a progress check with the owner of the school, the William Defoe/Mike Lumberg love child. I didn't do so hot with that, however. I severely screwed up my stall recovery by using ailerons when I wasn't supposed to, I didn't know some of the checkpoints he was talking about, and I didn't use ailerons when I should have on landing. He also did a broken headphone simulation where I had to use the crummy handheld mic and the intercom to hear.
The third flight of the day we simulated and practiced short and softfield landings and takeoffs. We practiced both at Kissimmee and took a mini cross-country trip towards Lake Whales, then a little further east, then back. The trip was a blast not only because it combined so many flight elements, it also took me over the familiar sights of Bok Tower, which I haven't seen up close for at least 5 years, and especially not that angle. We landed on a grass airstrip by a lake in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere north of Lake Whales. It was actually a 5 star restaurant/hotel/getaway resort. I got a ribbon for flying in on their airstrip and we took a tour of the restaurant. Guys - if you want to treat your lady to a high class night, take her to Chalet Suzanne. After that we went over restricted military airspace (over, not through) and had to pull an awesome 3000 foot descent slip. We touched down on the short strip, turned around and cruised back to Kissimmee using some autopilot features. The landing was superb, no crosswinds and I just floated that plane like paper over the runway screaming "no, you can't have it!" (another story).
A very successful day for me. I'm happy, and I'm going to celebrate. When I get done we need a have a party.
(Post Script: Aviation Story - back in the early days of aviation, the student pilot sat up front and the instructor sat in the back. Since they didn't have eletronic avionics (radios), the only way for the instructor to communicate with the pilot to tell him to turn left or right was to tug on the back of his shirt. Once the student flew solo or graduated, the instructor cut off the entire back of the student's shirt since it was no longer necessary. )
posted by Benacor at 11:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home